


Foresight

by obstinateRixatrix



Series: Flip of the Coin [1]
Category: Dangan Ronpa
Genre: Gen, skillswap au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-24
Updated: 2014-07-03
Packaged: 2018-02-06 01:01:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1838662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obstinateRixatrix/pseuds/obstinateRixatrix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which the Super High School Level Gambler gets to know the Super High School Level Clairvoyant.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Page 1:
> 
> Name: Kiyotaka Ishimaru  
> Height: 176 cm  
> Weight: 66 kg  
> Chest: 79 cm
> 
> Special Ability: Super High School Level Clairvoyant

It starts one nondescript morning, after Mondo strolls into school halfway through first period. He’s digging through his pockets, biting back a curse as he comes up with nothing but pocket lint when a pencil appears at his side. He turns to meet the startlingly red gaze of the kid that sits behind him (accompanied by the most intense eyebrows he’s ever seen holy _shit_ ), and before he can even open his mouth, the guy cuts him off with a curt “do remember to bring a writing implement next time, Oowada-san,” and promptly returns his attention to the open textbook in front of him. Mondo’s about to ask what the hell that was about when the teacher clears her throat with a pointed look, and he hastily twists back to face the front of the class because he’s already pushing his luck with the whole ‘strolling in late’ thing. Not that it was his fault; none of the guys last night knew when to quit, not until he cleaned them out. Some people, man. They just don’t respect the sanctity of a school night.

Still, though. He’d have to keep an eye out for Eyebrows because who the fuck _does_ something like that.

* * *

He doesn’t approach the kid immediately; in his line of work, it’s better to observe your quarry first, get a sense of their customs and conduct, their traits and tells. The first thing he notices is that the kid’s a fuckin’ _nerd_. Seriously, all he does is study, study, _study_. He opens his mouth to deliver a correct answer (and no matter what, it’s always correct), or to rebuke his fellow classmates for being too loud/rude/careless/whatever. It’s a bit of an exaggeration, but not by much; occasionally he’ll exchange (unnecessarily loud) pleasantries with the hall monitor-idol duo, the detective, the heir, and, oddly enough, the gang leader what the fuck, but unless someone asks him to explain a problem or check their work that’s just. Pretty much it. 

The second thing he notices is that pencil guy’s thing isn’t just a one-time deal. Dude always has the right number of pencils, and distributes them to varying reactions. The first few times he sees the guy hand one to the Asahina chick, she seems pretty surprised (though she recovers quickly with a dazzling smile, an instinctive mask he can’t help but note with approval), while the walking palm tree doesn’t even bat an eye, just parrots a routine “thanks, Ishimaru-chi!” when he receives his fifth pencil in a row (no doubt soon to be lost to that monstrous tangle of a mop the heir dares to calls hair). The kid himself dispenses them with varying degrees of familiarity and willingness, stiffly handing a pencil to an uncaring Leon, who promptly uses it to pick at his teeth, while easily passing one over to that Naegi kid, who readily accepts with a helpless sort of gratitude. At first Mondo figures Mr. Stick-Up-His-Ass is just good at noticing when people start floundering for something to write with, or knows the type of people who’d forget. Maybe that’s his title. Super High School Level Pencil Nerd. Hell, the detective chick does so much on intuition alone – pencils seem like small potatoes in comparison. And if that was an acceptable explanation, he’d be fine with wiping the kid from his mind and going on his merry way. Thing is, ‘Ishimaru-chi’ always has a neat row of pencils on his desk, always the exact number needed, and he’s always ready with one before anyone starts digging around their bags, pockets, purses, whatever.

 _Now that_ , Mondo thinks, _is fuckin’ weird._

* * *

“Oi,” he calls, looming over the kid’s desk. To his surprise, Eyebrows just snaps his ever-present textbook closed and greets him with an expectant nod. 

“Oowada-san,” he barks, and jesus christ you’d think with the kind of guy he is he’d understand the importance of inside voices. “For future reference, approaching me during lunch would be preferable. Still, I commend your punctuality.”

At that, all of Mondo’s questions die in his throat, replaced by a single, articulate “Huh?”

He brings out a planner, one in immaculate condition; it’s almost a surprise when he opens it to reveal pages and pages of meticulous notes. In predictably neat handwriting (seriously, shit looks like it came from a printer or something), right under today’s date, is the entry:

 

3:01 – brief meeting with Oowada-san; inform parents of delay

 

“What the fuck.”

“Language,” he chides, looking scandalized, and Mondo, while struck by how absurdly trite the protest is, throws out a half-assed apology. Mostly to avoid what he’s sure would be a long-winded lecture on ‘appropriate conduct’ or some shit like that. Apparently mollified, Eyebrows sets aside his planner. “Now, what was it you wanted to discuss? I hope it’s about supplementary classes, considering your test scores.”

Mondo narrows his eyes, and honestly, whatever surprise he feels at the statement (considering they’ve yet to have a single quiz) is overpowered by a wave of wow not this shit again. “Why don’t you tell me? Since you’re the hotshot psychic, or whatever.”

“Clairvoyant, actually,” he corrects with a grimace. “I’m not sure what you were expecting, but I don’t know everything. My precognitive abilities are nothing remarkable.”

Right, he’s just at Hope’s Peak ‘cause they liked his eyebrows. “What’s your accuracy?”

“One hundred percent.”

“No, I’d say that’s pretty remarkable.” Not that Mondo completely believes the guy, but the resulting flicker of distaste confirms his hunch. Eyebrows is lucky there’s stuff he wants to know, otherwise he’d spend the rest of the conversation needling him about being a future-telling weirdo. Before he can continue his reconnaissance though, the massive figure of Oogami materializes not too far away and while he is most definitely not intimidated by any fuckin’ hall monitor, he doesn’t want to be around if she decides he’s being ‘unnecessarily aggressive’ with Eyebrows or anything.

Just as he’s about to be on his way the kid calls his name and, with insufferable composure, informs him that someone will attempt to steal his wallet tonight. “Do be cautious,” he warns, and then he makes his way out of the classroom like it’s completely normal to tell someone they’re gonna be robbed.

Later that evening Mondo’s caught somewhat by surprise when he catches the wrist of an aspiring pick-pocket. Not nearly as much as the other guy when he hauls him up by the collar, though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Page 2:
> 
> Although my accuracy is 100%, I don't see how my  
> talent is particularly noteworthy. However, if you  
> need supplementary lessons, I would be happy to  
> lend assistance!


	2. Chapter 2

He gets chance. He gets luck. He gets probability and perception, deceit and duplicity. What he doesn’t get is this _maddening certainty_. As someone who makes a killing with calculated unpredictability, it’s almost insulting to have someone know what happens to him before he does.

“So what,” Mondo starts, dropping unceremoniously into the chair across from Eyebrows. “Did you know that moron was gonna try me, or did you know he was gonna fail?”

“I certainly knew there would be an altercation,” he says, holding a vaguely star-shaped onigiri. All of his onigiri are almost shaped like stars, it kinda suits him. In a weird way.

But Mondo isn’t here to admire the kid’s (lack of) culinary talent. He’s here for _answers_ , damnit, and the most insistent question he blurts out is “did it happen because of you?”

Of course, Eyebrows apparently has the listening comprehension of a wet sponge.

“Ridiculous,” he huffs indignantly, “I don’t know what kind of person you think I am but I wouldn’t go anywhere near such a den of iniquity, much less involve myself in-“

“Shut up,” Mondo interrupts, as an alternative to punching the prig in the face. “What I’m _askin’_ is if you warning me caused the whole thing in the first place.”

“I’m… not sure what you mean?”

Jesus christ kid’s dumb as a rock. “Did you warn me because you knew what would happen or did it happen because you warned me!”

“That’s a very good question,” he says, sounding oddly… approving? What? Eyebrows takes a contemplative bite out of his lunch, chewing thoughtfully for an aggravating stretch of time before delivering an enthusiastic “I have no clue!”

This fucking kid.

“You’re telling me that you’ve never thought about this? At all?”

He looks a bit confused, as if _knowing the fuckin’ future_ is a regular occurrence. Which it probably is, for him, but Mondo’s still flabbergasted when he answers with “why would I? I have better things to do.”

“Like what?”

“Like study, of course!”

Of course. “So what, you just go around tellin’ people what they’re gonna do?”

“No, of course not. That would be pointless. After all, the majority of what I know is mundane information.” He points to who’s probably the wimpiest (yet somehow best?) gang leader in all of Japan. “The melon bread Nagei-san buys today after school will be pineapple bread in the wrong wrapper.”

“What if you tell him that?”

“Why would I? Naegi-san isn’t allergic to pineapple bread.”

“To see if it changes anything, obviously!” Jesus christ, of course the biggest square in the world gets future sight. Mondo would bet his right arm that the guy has never even thought of trying to get next week’s lotto numbers. “I thought you’d be all over trial and error shit like this.”

“I… haven’t thought about that!” The realization hits him like a sack of bricks, and Mondo just barely manages to catch the onigiri that falls from his oblivious grasp. “Is my drive to learn really so weak? I… I’m so ashamed!”

Holy shit, he definitely was not expecting Eyebrows to get worked up so much and… are there tears in his eyes? What the fuck?

The rest of lunch is spent frantically explaining to Oogami that _no_ , Mondo absolutely did not hurt Ishimaru in _any way_ , this was all just a huge misunderstanding, they were just talking, honest, holy shit Eyebrows this would be so much more believable if you’d just _calm the fuck down already_.

(Mondo later finds out that Ishimaru hunts down Naegi after school, insisting on accompanying him to the store “in the spirit of scientific exploration!”

His enthusiasm is weirdly endearing, when it’s other people who have to deal with it.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Page 3
> 
> My ability's been a fact of life, I just act  
> according to what I know. Why would I  
> waste time thinking about how it works  
> when I have studying to do?
> 
>  
> 
> OKAY OKAY I GIVE UP I CAN'T KEEP QUIET. IT GOES AGAINST MY EVERY INSTINCT. I HAVE TO AT LEAST TELL YOU ALL WHAT HAPPENS WITH NAEGI. IN CASE I NEVER ACTUALLY WRITE IT IN FIC FORM. THIS STORY IS IMPORTANT. SO VERY IMPORTANT. Ishimaru and Naegi are standing outside the shop thinking about how to do this when they run into his crew (who he doesn't think of as his crew because he doesn't quite realize he's a gang leader whoops how'd that happen) and they go like WHAT IF WE BUY EVERY SINGLE MELON BREAD IN THE STORE AND GIVE YOU THE ONE THAT'S NOT PINEAPPLE!!! YEAH!!!! Naegi's like uh that's going a bit far but it's too late and it turns out that there was a mixup with that shipment so every melon bread package has pineapple bread. They start a fuss and confront the store manager while Ishimaru's yelling at them to stop being delinquents and BE RESPECTFUL TO THEIR ELDERS and Naegi's like wow okay I think that's gone far enough how about I just buy something else and he grabs a red bean bun and buys it but he wasn't actually looking and it turns out it was melon bread package sorted into the wrong section. 
> 
> He opens it and it's actually pineapple bread.


	3. Chapter 3

Mondo’s pretty surprised at how willing the clairvoyant is to tolerate his presence. Sure, there’s a lot of lectures about education! Respect! Studying! And all that bullshit, but Eyebrows never tries to shoo him away or anything. So he just keeps going back.

 At first Mondo only bothers him about his abilities to get a sense of how it works, but gradually the questions become less about his talent, and more about him. Like why the kid “commends punctuality” of people who aren’t aware of any sort of schedule (“Because they’re on time according to my schedule!”) or why he focuses so much on pencils, of all things (“A school environment isn’t conductive to learning if the students aren’t able to take notes!”). A weird sort-of camaraderie comes of it, and to Mondo’s surprise the conversation drifts towards other topics, like the shape of the kid’s onigiri (“The star shapes are the hardest, so of course I need to practice them the most!”), or how the most uptight student in the school ended up buddy-buddy with the nation’s favorite idol (“Asahina-san knows a great number of vocal exercises. She sometimes invites me when she trains her ‘chords of steel’, as she likes to call them!”). The kid’s a walking exclamation point when they hang out together. The most excited he gets though is when he gets goin’ about the hall monitor. Which, like everything about him, is pretty weird. So of course he has to ask.

“What’s with you and the hall monitor?”

“Oogami-san? I really admire her! She’s worked hard for her position at Hope’s Peak, ensuring the safety of her fellow students and promoting good morals among her peers. Not only that, she spends most of her time training! She truly is the best hall monitor in Japan!”

Jeez, the guy looks like he’s ready to explode. Death by hero-worship. What a way to go. “I dunno, I bet you would’ve been pretty good competition,” Mondo comments, mostly to curtail his babbling before it gets into maximum overdrive. It works, maybe a little too well.

“…Thank you,” he says, oddly reserved. “Unfortunately, I… wasn’t allowed to join the disciplinary committee.”

Wait, what? “You kiddin’ me? Kid, you were born to be one of those assholes.”

“Language, Oowada-san,” is Ishimaru’s automatic response (which just proves it), though it’s still weirdly subdued. Eyebrows usually jumps at the chance to bluster about the ills of profanity. Instead, he just lets out a sigh. “There were concerns that my… ability… encouraged rule breaking.”

“Huh?”

“Many of the students were skeptical about my precognition. There was a group that would frequently attempt various misdemeanors to see if they could avoid the consequences of their actions, but they never could! I worked hard to prevent every act of vandalism.” His grin has a hint of pride, though it doesn’t last long. “The school became concerned that my presence encouraged such behavior. After all, those students were only misbehaving to challenge me.”

“What, they kicked you off because a couple brats were being idiots?”

“Well, I was responsible for-“

“That’s bullshit! Those fuckin’ assholes,” he seethes, ready to punch something. “They’re just shovin’ the blame on you just ‘cause a couple of dumbasses don’t know when to quit! They’ve got nobody to blame but themselves and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, got it?”

“Oowada-san, I…” For a second it looks like he’s going to scold the rather strong choice of words, but instead, he promptly bursts into tears. Mondo flounders a bit before pulling him into a (manly) hug and holy shit this is worse than Niagara Falls how can one person have _so much snot_. As uncomfortably damp as it is though, Mondo stays where he is, awkwardly patting Ishimaru’s head until he calms down enough to pull away. “Nobody’s ever gotten angry for me.” He rubs at residual tears, and it’s hard to say whether that was a hiccup or a laugh. “You’re a good guy, Oowada-san! A really good guy!”

“You idiot.” Mondo is definitely not blushing. Nope. Not at all. Aw jeez, who goes and just says something like that. “It’s natural, isn’t it? That’s how friends are.”

At least this time he’s somewhat prepared for the flood of tears.                    

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Page 4:
> 
> Not all problems in life can be solved by effort   
> alone. But there are other ways to succeed! If I  
> work hard enough, someday I'll find a way to   
> overcome this troublesome ability..!


End file.
